A: No implementing legislation has been issued in Malta so far and no procedure for family reunification (legal or administrative) appears to have been formalised. Article 11(2) of the Refugees Act makes a fleeting reference to dependent family members who may join a refugee, and this appears to be the only thing stated in this regard. Dependent members of the family of a recognised refugee are usually allowed to come to Malta to join him/her. People with humanitarian protection face far more problems and their dependent family members are only allowed to come to Malta in very rare cases.
The definition of dependent family members in the Refugees Act is slightly different from that in the EU Directive. In article 2 of the said Act, dependent members of the family are defined as 'the spouse of the refugee, provided the marriage is subsisting on the date of the refugee's application, and such children of the refugee who on the date of the refugee's application are under the age of eighteen years and are not married".
There is no formal application procedure in place - no mandatory requirements and no established selection or approval criteria. Each 'application' or request currently appears to be decided on a case by case basis. The very responsibility of dealing with applications is also unclear, but requests (even a mere letter) are normally sent to the Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs (MJHA) which then proceeds to collect the necessary documentation and other evidence.